[Miranda]
'What…is that?'
Miranda was speechless.
A dozen meters away was the strange man she met half an hour ago. He was standing. She couldn't read his expression because of his mask.
Below, around him was a circle drawn with blood.
While fighting, she did see him drawing something with his blood but she just thought he had gone mad.
Who would do something like that in a half-dead state…?
The circle was shining red and the man, Nyrel, looked toward her. She felt really uncomfortable. Something bordering on fear.
She glanced at the kangaroo and it was also looking at Nyrel.
No, everyone stopped fighting and looked at Nyrel.
Nyrel stretched out his palm and from the lines of the drawn circle an iridescent energy came out.
"Mary. Heed my call."
-Boooom!
An explosion of bright energy blinded everyone present in the cavern.
Miranda covered her eyes with her arms while enhancing all her senses to the maximum.
'What is that energy…?'
She had never felt such a…dark energy before.
It was like Nyrel was doing something forbidden.
The light receded and-
"!"
Everyone felt chills, including the kangaroos.
A woman was there.
She was wearing a black tunic reaching her knees with a black belt fastening her tunic on her waist. Peeking out of her tunic were her pale white hands and bare-footed legs. The long dark hair flowing down on her shoulders hid her face a little, but it was enough to say that the woman had a pretty face. Her facial expression, no–she wasn't wearing any expression, devoid of any emotions. Similarly, the dark eyes were staring in her direction.
"Mary."
Miranda heard a slow whisper from the masked man, who didn't seem perturbed. Since the dark girl was in front of him, it was easy to guess that she was with Nyrel, but Miranda was not less confused. She hadn't noticed the girl after all.
'Was that a summoning? A human one? Is that possible?'
"!"
Her thoughts stopped soon when from the broken glasses on the ground came out a pale hand.
Miranda stepped back immediately. She knew she wasn't the target of the girl but she felt chills.
Her gaze looked for the girl near Nyrel but she wasn't there anymore.
Yes.
She was coming out of the broken pieces of the mirror.
The Kangaroo flinched and kicked the girl but another mirror appeared.
-Smash!
When the mirror broke in pieces, the girl wasn't there anymore.
"!"
Miranda saw shocked the girl coming out of a piece of mirror which flew behind the kangaroo.
The shards of the mirror floated in the air and shot out ruthlessly toward the kangaroo.
-Spurt! Spurt! Spurt!
The shards were sharp enough to cut through the skin of the kangaroo easily, but it wasn't enough.
"..."
Miranda suddenly felt the void gaze of the girl and she instantly understood what she wanted. It seemed that the girl wasn't strong enough to deal a death blow, so she was asking for help from Miranda.
Miranda nocked an arrow in her bow and pulled the string strongly.
A fierce wind swirled around the tip of the arrow. It was without a doubt a stronger attack than any she had used until now.
-Booom!
-Spurt!
The result was instantaneous. When she released the arrow, it shot out and pierced easily the kangaroo's brain, who couldn't even react.
Blood and flesh sputtered around and silence fell.
Miranda looked for the girl again and she was already next to Nyrel.
Nyrel whispered something to her and the girl lifted him before disappearing through a mirror.
Miranda was too tired to be surprised again, so she looked for her comrades.
They all defeated their respective enemies though they were tired.
Miranda walked toward the place where Nyrel disappeared and stooped down.
"Who is he…"
She wondered as she dusted off the strange mask that Nyrel left behind him.
***
[Nyrel]
-Clank!
I kicked open the wooden doors.
I didn't hold back, so the door cracked as they swung open, but I didn't care.
I felt really worse.
My body was still recovering but I felt like all my bones were shattered.
After contracting Mary and escaping the twenty-fifth-floor thanks to Mary's ability, I told her to rest as Mary was definitely feeling exhausted. I called her right after contracting her after all.
Therefore, I had to tumble out of the dungeon with a shaky gait. Thankfully, Mary escorted me to the tenth floor and I somewhat managed after that, but it still took me four hours. People were giving curious glances at me and mainly Mary, who was getting quite the attention even with her face covered.
By the way, I threw away my ridiculous mask and only wrapped a cloth to cover everything below my nose.
What angered me were the laughs and sneers of the people around me. Some recognized me and mocked me blatantly.
Those fuckers…
"Hey brat, the door nearly hit m-"
"Scram."
I stared at the man who was in front of me.
He was giant and had more muscles than me, but I wasn't in the mood to play with him.
It was also late at night and I wanted to sleep madly.
Oh, yeah, the icing on the freaking cake was that I lost the bag containing all the things I took from the hedgehugs when I was teleported stupidly. The only things remaining were the spines.
What the hell was I going to gift Bell with the money I would get from that?!
I was tired so I didn't raise my head to look at the man who got out of my way at my words.
A silence of death filled the guild. I just noticed that.
Well, I nearly broke the doors of the guild after all.
Still, their guards didn't try to stop me?
I ignored the gazes and walked to the fifth floor, where you could sell the beast's materials.
I called the elevator and entered it.
"..."
The man who seemed to be a staff member was clearly averting his gaze, no, his whole body from me.
Did I scare them…?
Whatever.
"Hm?"
Ah.
I just noticed that blood was flowing out from my legs and hands, creating a small puddle on the tiles. There must be a bloody trail from the dungeon until there…
Still, it was taking time to heal, even with Miranda's healing vial…
What the hell?
[Your already battered body has taken the after-effect of your first spirit contract. It's already a miracle that you can move. ]
I see.
I didn't put much thought and got out of the elevator.
"H-Have a goodnight."
What…?
I ignored the shivering staff member, still in the elevator, who was hammering the 'shutting' button hard and headed to one of the several lines.
I closed my eyes since the light was hurting my languid eyes.
…
"H-Hum, Sir?"
I opened my eyes and saw the line already void of any people.
What the heck?
I closed my eyes just for a minute though?
I shrugged and walked to the woman.
Like a beggar, I rummaged through my pockets to take out the spines. There was a lot and I ended up being pricked by several of the spines.
The woman's professional smile quivered as I put one by one the spines on her table with my fresh blood as a bonus. The white counter was not white anymore.
Finally, after two minutes, a puddle of blood with thirty of so spines were present on the counter. There might be only thirty but there were the best of all. Some spines of hedgehugs were better than others and I prioritized them since I didn't have a lot of time. Putting my hand in my breast pocket, I gave her my guild card and waited.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"What's up?"
I asked, furrowing my brows.
She hadn't moved an inch since I started putting the materials in.
Ah.
She was probably staring at my eyes.
Amber eyes were extremely rare in this kingdom…No, I don't think anyone else had eyes like me in this kingdom…
Shit…
She wouldn't recognize me, right?
Edward Falkrona was famous, but not everyone had seen his face.
"Y-Yes!"
She fortunately didn't seem to notice and started doing the count. Still, I pulled the clothes covering my face a little.
"Sir Nyrel, that's right?"
"Yeah."
That's the name I gave when I registered.
"Your share has been credited to your card. You can buy anything with it. In case of robbery, you have to quickly inform us so we can freeze your account."
She said and gave me back the card with a receipt.
I scratched the gold 'ED' symbol on my guild card and walked off.
"In the hope of seeing you soon, Sir!"
I waved my hand and left the guild.
I wanted to go to a calm place where I could breathe peacefully with nobody around. My first day in the [Enigma Dungeon] was an arduous one.
You may call me weak, but I beg to differ.
In my place, any person from Earth would have had a hard time accustoming themselves to such a world.
-Ding!
"Jarvis?"
[Good news.]
Jarvis said and a screen displayed in front of me.
[Congratulation! Successful Challenge!]
[10 Affection Points obtained from Miranda Stormdila!]
[Hidden Heroine: Miranda Stormdila.]
[Reward: Memories of Edward Amael Falkrona obtained!]
[Do you want to acquire them?]